Toilet seat

ABSTRACT

A toilet seat includes a seat unit, a sprayer device, a user-operating unit and a control device. The seat unit includes a housing, and a seat member having front and rear portions and pivotally connected to the housing at the rear portion. The sprayer device is mounted to the seat unit. The user-operating unit is mounted in a middle part of the front portion, and includes a sensor unit to generate a motion signal in response to being touched by a user, and a light emitting unit to emit light for indicating a position of the sensor unit. The control device is mounted in the housing, is electrically connected to the sensor unit for receiving the motion signal therefrom, and is to control the sprayer device to spray water in response to receiving the motion signal.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This is a continuation-in-part (CIP) of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/672,823, filed on Nov. 9, 2012, and abandoned as of the filing date of this application.

FIELD

The disclosure relates to a toilet seat, more particularly to a toilet seat capable of sensing a motion of a user so as to spray water accordingly.

BACKGROUND

Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional toilet seat 1 disclosed in Taiwanese Patent Application Publication No. 201011143 includes a seat member 11, a sprayer device 12 mounted under a rear portion of the seat member 11, two heaters 13 disposed in the seat member 11 for warming up the seat member 11, and a control device 14 including a plurality of buttons 141 for driving the sprayer device 12 to spray water as well as for controlling amount and temperature of the water sprayed from the sprayer device 12.

The control device 14 is mounted at one of lateral sides of the seat member 11, and thus, the area occupied by the conventional toilet seat 1 is relatively large. To reduce the area occupied by the conventional toilet seat 1, the control device 14 is replaced by another control device 14′ that is separate from the conventional toilet seat 1.

However, it is inconvenient to provide a receiving space for accommodating the control device 14′. Further, an external power supply for the control device 14′ is also required, thus resulting in additional manufacturing cost for the conventional toilet seat 1.

SUMMARY

Therefore, the object of the present disclosure is to provide a toilet seat capable of alleviating the above drawbacks of the prior art.

According to the present disclosure, a toilet seat includes a seat unit, a sprayer device, a user-operating unit and a control device. The seat unit includes a housing, and a seat member that has front and rear portions and that is pivotally connected to the housing at the rear portion. The sprayer device is mounted to the seat unit. The user-operating unit is mounted in a middle part of the front portion, and includes a sensor unit configured to generate a motion signal in response to being touched by a user, and a light emitting unit configured to emit light for indicating a position of the sensor unit. The control device is mounted in the housing, is electrically connected to the sensor unit for receiving the motion signal therefrom, and is configured to control the sprayer device to spray water in response to receiving the motion signal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional toilet seat disclosed in Taiwanese Patent Application Publication No. 201011143;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a toilet seat according to the present disclosure, where a sprayer device of the toilet seat is at a retracted position;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the embodiment, where the sprayer device is at an operative position;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view for illustrating a light emitting unit surrounding a sensor unit according to the embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view for illustrating the light emitting unit disposed on the sensor unit according to another embodiment of this disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view for illustrating the light emitting unit and the sensor unit being flush with a seat member of the toilet seat according to still another embodiment of this disclosure; and

FIG. 8 is a schematic top view for illustrating a user sitting on the toilet seat of the embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIGS. 2 to 5, an embodiment of a toilet seat according to the present disclosure is shown. The toilet seat includes a seat unit 2, a sprayer device 3, a user-operating unit 4 and a control device 5. In one embodiment, the toilet seat is a bidet toilet seat.

The seat unit 2 includes a housing 21, a cover 23 pivotally connected to the housing 21, and a seat member 22 having front and rear portions 221, 222. The seat member 22 is pivotally connected to the housing 21 at the rear portion 222.

In this embodiment, the sprayer device 3 is mounted under the rear portion 222 of the seat member 22 for spraying water. As shown in FIG. 2, the sprayer device 3 includes a first nozzle 31 and a second nozzle 32 having a length greater than that of the first nozzle 31. Each of the first and second nozzles 31, 32 is movable between a retracted position, where the first/second nozzle 31, 32 is retracted under the rear portion 222 of the seat member 22 (see FIG. 2), and an operative position, where the first/second nozzle 31, 32 is exposed from the seat member 22 (see FIG. 3). For example, the first nozzle 31 is a family nozzle for washing an area around a user's anus, and the second nozzle 32 is a bidet nozzle designed for women.

The user-operating unit 4 is mounted in a middle part of the front portion 221 of the seat member 22, and includes a sensor unit 41 and a light emitting unit 42. The sensor unit 41 is configured to generate a motion signal in response to being touched by a user. The light emitting unit 42 is configured to emit light for indicating a position of the sensor unit 41. The light emitting unit 42 surrounds the sensor unit 41. The seat member 22 has a top surface 2210 on which the sensor unit 41 is disposed, and the sensor unit 41 may be flush with the seat member 22 as shown in FIG. 7, or has a height relative to the top surface 2210 of the seat member 22 less than 5 mm. In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the height of the sensor unit 41 relative to the top surface 2210 of the seat member 22 ranges approximately from 2 mm to 3 mm. In one embodiment, the light emitting unit 42 may be disposed directly on the sensor unit 41 as depicted in FIG. 6.

The control device 5 is mounted in the housing 21, and includes a control module 51 and a driving module 52. The control module 51 is electrically connected to the sensor unit 41 for receiving the motion signal, and is programmed to control operation of the driving module 52 in response to receiving the motion signal. The driving module 52 is controlled by the control module 51, and drives the sprayer device 3 to spray water. In one embodiment, the control device 5 is further electrically connected to the light emitting unit 42.

In one embodiment, the control module 51 is programmed to execute a plurality of default control modes for controlling the driving module 52. The default control modes correspond respectively to different numbers of times of receipt of the motion signal from the sensor unit 41 within a predetermined time period (e.g., 0.5 seconds).

The driving module 52 drives the sprayer device 3 as controlled by the control module 51 to spray water according to one of the default control modes.

For example, when receiving the motion signal from the sensor unit 41 once within 0.5 seconds, the control module 51 may control the driving module 52 to drive the first nozzle 31 to move from the retracted position (FIG. 2) to the operative position (FIG. 3). Additionally, the second nozzle 32 may be driven to move from the retracted position to the operative position when the control module 51 receives the motion signal twice within 0.5 seconds. In one embodiment, the control device 5 further controls an amount of water to be sprayed out by the first and second nozzles 31, 32. For example, after one of the first and second nozzles 31, 32 is moved to the operative position, when the control module 51 further receives the motion signal twice within another 0.5 seconds, said one of the first and second nozzles 31, 32 may be driven to spray a small amount of water. Similarly, said one of the first and second nozzles 31, 32 may be driven to spray a large amount of water when the control module 51 further receives the motion signal by three times within another 0.5 seconds after said one of the first and second nozzles 31, 32 is moved to the operative position. It should be noted that the number of times of receipt of the motion signal and the predetermined time period can be varied as desired, and are not limited to the disclosure herein.

As shown in FIG. 8, the sensor unit 41 is mounted in the middle part of the front portion 221 of the seat member 22, and is thus located between thighs of the user without being concealed by the user when the user sits on the seat member 22. In this way, the user can be aware of the position of the sensor unit 41 through indication of the light emitted from the light emitting unit 42, and touch the sensor unit 41 to generate the motion signal. The control module 51 then receives the motion signal and executes one of the default control modes for controlling the driving module 52 to successively drive the sprayer device 3 to spray water. Since the middle part of the front portion 221 of the seat member 22 is not covered by the user sitting on the seat member 22, the user can simply recognize the position of the sensor unit 41 and touch the sensor unit 41 and can thereby operate the sprayer device 3 without turning his head and raising his hand.

To sum up, the toilet seat of the present disclosure provides a single sensor unit 41 that is integrated in the seat member 22 to enable operation of the sprayer device 3 by simple touch actions of the user. Further, area and space occupied by the user-operating unit 4 are relatively small. Additionally, the light emitting unit 42 that surrounds or is disposed on the sensor unit 41 enables intuitively indication of the position of the sensor unit 41 even in a dark environment.

In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details have been set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiment. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that one or more other embodiments may be practiced without some of these specific details. It should also be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” an embodiment with an indication of an ordinal number and so forth means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic may be included in the practice of the disclosure. It should be further appreciated that in the description, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of various inventive aspects.

While the disclosure has been described in connection with what is considered the exemplary embodiment, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiment but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A toilet seat comprising: a seat unit including a housing, and a seat member that has front and rear portions and that is pivotally connected to said housing at said rear portion; a sprayer device mounted to said seat unit; a user-operating unit mounted in a middle part of said front portion of said seat member, and including a sensor unit configured to generate a motion signal in response to being touched by a user, and a light emitting unit configured to emit light for indicating a position of said sensor unit; and a control device mounted in said housing, electrically connected to said sensor unit for receiving the motion signal therefrom, and configured to control said sprayer device to spray water in response to receiving the motion signal.
 2. The toilet seat as claimed in claim 1, wherein said control device includes: a driving module for driving said sprayer device; and a control module electrically connected to said sensor unit for receiving the motion signal, and programmed to control operation of said driving module according to the motion signal.
 3. The toilet seat as claimed in claim 2, wherein said control module is programmed to execute a plurality of default control modes for controlling said driving module, the default control modes corresponding respectively to different numbers of times of receipt of the motion signal from said sensor unit within a predetermined time period.
 4. The toilet seat as claimed in claim 3, wherein one of the default control modes of said control module is to control said driving module for driving said sprayer device to spray water.
 5. The toilet seat as claimed in claim 1, wherein said light emitting unit surrounds said sensor unit.
 6. The toilet seat as claimed in claim 1, wherein said light emitting unit is disposed on said sensor unit.
 7. The toilet seat as claimed in claim 1, wherein said seat member has a top surface on which said sensor unit is disposed, and said sensor unit has a height relative to said top surface of said seat member less than 5 mm. 